Wednesday, October 27, 2010

1. Why did Mou behave the way he did on his 1st return to Barcelona as Chelsea mgr?The answer came from conversation with Van Gaal. Although Mou will not admit it, he had unfinished business with the Catalan club. For all his years there gave him the perfect grounding for a top coach, he was often treated dismissively in Barca, referred to among the club's large media entourage (& even some within the club) as "The Translator". Thats why he boasted about having won as many titles as Barca (as of 2005).

2. After the league cup final with Liverpool:He did smt different from other mgr. He toured the dejected Pool ranks. By grativating towards the pitch, was he seeking the share of limelight he never had as a player?In essence, answer is yes. There is a passage in the book he produced with his journalist friend Luis Lourenco about how when he returned to Benfica as Porto coach, he milked the abuse of a huge crowd before the match: 'I made a point of walking on alone, before the team... It was fantastic, an amazing feeling. I had never been a first class player who could feel, for eg, what Figo had felt upon returning to Barcelona (with RM), ans so i had no idea what it would be like to have 80,000 people whisting and jeering at me. I believe tat when we are mentally strong, pp who seek to intimidate and disturb us wd have exactly the opposite effect. Upon hearing he whistles and jeers... I felt as if I were the most important person in the world.'

3. Poor marks in Maths disqualified him from entering uni at the first attempt

4. He listened intently to philosophy lectures of Manuel Sergio, whom he began to derive a fascination for playing with people's emotions. The prof remembers him as a voracious student: 'He looked like a cat catching birds.'

5. Hello Mister, Im Jose Mourinho - this was his introduction to Sir Bobby at LisbonAbout his translation, Sir Bobby said, 'I always had the feeling that he was saying it the way i would have said it. That was his knack. The players responded as if I told them. I could see. It was the same reaction.

6. He advised Sir Bobby to take up an offer from Porto.

7. He split his UEFA coaching licence into 2 parts in 1988 and 2000 (normally a coach does 2 parts in consecutive summers) as he was spending the rest of the years learning at football's university of life, and he worked daily with the likes of Figo, Rivaldo & Ronaldo. It were the 2 years he was between jobs.

8. He never bragged abt his achievements in 2000 when he did the second part, even in the pubs with his mates after finishing the day. He listed in his application he had been "assistant coach" to Robson at Porto and that was not taking too much of a liberty, though techincally he was not. But his work actually emcompassed more than that.

9. Key figures in Barca's dressing room came to accept he had a lot to offer when he was Sir Bobby's assistant. eg skillfully edited videos showing opp's strengths/weakness. This was appreciated among those, by Pep Guardiola. Jose built up a relationship with Pep knowing Pep's status at the club.

10. He got along well with Hristo Stoichkov too.

11. He was pissed when Barca moved Sir Bobby upstairs to make way for Van Gaal. Sir advised LVG to keep him, and Mou benefitted bcos LVG got him to do more work as LVG was one of those who like to stand back, unlike Sir Bobby who was totally hands on.